One of the essays DD did was something like a good story starts with a good beginning get us hooked in 500 words. 500 words was mid sentence… Would it be awful to end it mid sentence to make it exactly 500… Since they realize they aren’t getting a whole story.
I would edit the story to fit it in the word count and end it properly. It’s quite easy to cut down a few words. Of course, others may think differently.
I’d be surprised if it really mattered if you went over by 5-10% on an essay. I mean I don’t think they are counting the words. Sure, after having read so many essays, admissions officers must have a good “sixth sense” as to length, but given varying lengths of words and stylistic approaches to essays, I’d be shocked to think they could calibrate their review to take notice of a half-sentence “extra”.
I have no idea of course - just seems like common sense to me. Anyone else have any insights? Are they really using Acrobat or Word to do a word count? I know I told my son not to sweat it if he was 20 or 30 words over or under a 400 word essay.
Some forms only have enough space for a certain number of characters. Otherwise, I agree, a few words over probably isn’t a big deal.
DD’s story was over 1500 words, and she gave them roughly 500. She chose not to shorten it because they didn’t ask for a full essay, her interpretation was the beginning of a longer story. But she did decide to give them a full sentence at the end instead of stopping at 500 words on the dot.
I admit - she had me hooked in the first 508 words that she submitted. I was like… where is the rest! Hopefully she gave them what they wanted.
Thanks for the help!
I like the idea. It think it shows originality and when admissions officers read 100’s of essays- it might catch their attention.
Agree…it’s a novel idea and might work to her advantage, especially since its a ‘story’. IMO it may not work for other types of essays - like expository or persuasive - where we need a proper ‘punch’ or conclusion, to end the argument/analysis/description.
I too feel (with no proof or solid info to backup) that they may not be that strict about the number of words - especially if we overrun by 5-10%. In one of our visits, the admission official was very friendly and mentioned on the broader lines that ‘they work as hard to find reasons to accept the applicant as they try to find red flags’. Having said that, each school might be different and we are very new to this BS application process, so I could be wrong.
Hi!
I had the same problem, so i emailed an AO.
They said that it was okay if it were over by a few words, or a sentence.
I’m sure that it’ll be the same case with you (especially if its with Phillips Andover)